Putin imposes martial law in annexed regions of Ukraine, forced office return?: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Putin imposes martial law in annexed regions of Ukraine

President Joe Biden called the move an intimidation tactic. Plus, international reporter Kim Hjelmgaard looks at how Ukraine is dealing with Russian war crimes, a judge finds that former President Donald Trump allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S., money reporter Paul Davidson looks at whether there will be a forced return to the office and a recession may be all but certain.

Reporter Kim Hjelmgaard will be answering questions about his reporting on Ukraine's war crimes investigation live on Reddit today. You can find his AMA on the r/worldnews subreddit page at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

You can always talk to the audio team by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com. We'd be delighted to hear from you and we may put your comments on the show.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 20th of October, 2022. Today, martial law in annexed parts of Ukraine, plus Trump's alleged conspiracy to defraud the US and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. Mexican activists filed a criminal complaint yesterday at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. They argue that authorities cooperated with or allowed drug cartels to abduct people who were never seen again. The case involves hundreds of disappearances in the state of Veracruz from 2010 to 2016.

2. A woman broke down on the witness stand yesterday, giving graphic testimony in the case of Danny Masterson. She said she emerged from unconsciousness to find the actor raping her. She's the first of three women who say Masterson raped them.

3. And the winner of a 50/50 raffle at a Washington Commanders football game earlier this year says his winning check bounced when his friend tried to cash it. The NFL team is calling issues with the nearly $15,000 check a bank error.

♦

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law yesterday in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed. He gave few details of what martial law might mean, but restrictions on travel and public gatherings along with tighter censorship and more authority for law enforcement are likely. In his announcement, Putin again referenced the attack on the Crimean Bridge earlier this month. The violence, assumed to have been carried out by Ukraine, set off a wave of Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, including the capital of Kyiv. As part of his latest moves, Putin also signed a decree restricting movement in and out of Crimea.

Taylor Wilson translating for Vladimir Putin:

"It was the Ukrainian special services that organized the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. We also prevented terrorist attacks in other regions of Russia, including crowded places, that transport and energy facilities, I would like to emphasize, including nuclear power facilities. In this regard, let me remind you that in the territories of the Luhansk People's Republic as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, martial law was in effect before they joined Russia. Now, we need to formalize this regime already within the framework of the Russian legislation. Therefore, I signed a decree on the introduction of martial law in these four entities of the Russian Federation."

Taylor Wilson:

President Joe Biden called Putin's move an intimidation tactic and said it won't work. Ukrainian authorities said the Russian Army attacked nine regions in Ukraine's Southeast yesterday using drones, rockets, and heavy artillery. Six civilians were reported killed, and Ukrainian authorities said violence, again, targeted energy facilities. Meanwhile, EU member countries agreed yesterday on a new round of sanctions against Iran for giving Russia drones to attack Ukrainian targets.

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War crimes by Russia in Ukraine may be unprecedented, but so is the country's push for swift justice. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with international reporter Kim Hjelmgaard to find out why Ukraine is choosing to try these crimes in its own courts.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Ukraine is doing this in a different way. All the other examples that we know of in recent and not so recent history, big atrocity happens, a lot of time goes by, but eventually perpetrators are dragged into big international courts. But in Ukraine, the judiciary there has very much taken the view for a mixture of reasons - also to do with keeping this issue to the forefront of international audiences because it works in their favor in terms of the information warfare - but they took the decision, anyway, that they wanted to collect all this evidence in real time and try to try, if they could, the majority of these cases in their own domestic courts.

But so far, nine months in, they've already had some convictions, mostly low-ranking soldiers and tank drivers and things like that, where the evidence has been fairly clear cut, there's no question that they're guilty of war crimes, horrific crimes, all sorts of different ones to do with sexual violence and forced abductions. They're sending hundreds of kids out of Ukraine to Russia right now. Terrible, terrible crimes that they're almost certainly guilty of. But what we wanted to look at in the story was, "Well, what's the kind of thing that's going to stand up in an international court setting?" As we found out in the reporting, it was far trickier when you start thinking of the issue in those terms.

PJ Elliott:

I hate playing the hypothetical game, but I feel that this is a question that a lot of people have. If Russia is to actually be tried with war crimes and they do go to court, what does that look like? Is that essentially the start of World War III? Because I can't imagine Putin and the Kremlin just going quietly.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

So yeah, so that's a good question and the vast majority of these cases will take place in Ukrainian courts with Russian military personnel, not necessarily Russian officials who are in the country, who are captured POWs. And that's very different from trying the high officials, the Russian government. In order to try them in a courtroom, I think the consensus view is that, well, they have to no longer be in power because they are protected by their status. It's pretty farfetched to think that anytime soon that Vladimir Putin is going to be dragged before a court in The Hague in the Netherlands, where a lot of this international or crime stuff is tried. So I think, to answer your question, this isn't the trigger for World War III.

Taylor Wilson:

If you have any questions on the war in Ukraine, Kim is hosting an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit today at 1:00 PM Eastern, 10:00 AM Pacific.

♦

A federal judge in California has found evidence that former President Donald Trump allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the United States. That's according to a transfer of emails from Trump attorney John Eastman to the House Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attacks. In an 18-page order earlier this week, US District Judge David Carter said the emails were used to press false claims of voter fraud in Georgia, even though Trump knew specific voting fraud numbers were wrong, and that he continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public. The judge said that the court found those emails are related to a conspiracy to defraud the United States. Eastman had pushed to shield the release of those communications, citing attorney-client privilege, but the judge found that no such privilege exists when they offer possible evidence of a crime.

Trump did not immediately comment on the ruling. It's the second time this year, the judge has described damning evidence involving Trump. In March, he ruled that Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the January 6th, 2021 certification of President Joe Biden's election. Legal analysts said the judge's ruling gives additional evidence that Trump and his aides engaged in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct the electoral college vote. Meanwhile, the former president was questioned yesterday under oath in the defamation lawsuit filed against him in 2019 by E. Jean Carroll. She's the journalist, author and former advice columnist who accused Trump of raping her in a New York City department store more than two decades ago. Trump has denied that allegation, his lawyers had tried to avoid his being questioned in the suit. Multiple women came forward with similar charges against Trump during and after the 2016 presidential election.

♦

Will there be a forced return to the office? As the job market cools, companies could soon regain the upper hand with workers. PJ Elliott spoke with money reporter Paul Davidson to find out more.

Paul Davidson:

Well, the job market is still solid, but it's definitely been slowing the last couple months. Basically, that's giving workers a little less leverage than they had and giving employers a little more leverage in a number of things, like wages and which job you can get or not get. And also, a big thing for workers has been remote work. But employees, it turns out, really like it. Even some employers or some companies like it, but a lot of companies don't, they want to start trying to get people back to the office, they feel like for reasons of culture, morale, collaboration, innovation, it's good to have people in the office. So there's started to be some tension between employers trying to get employees to come back to the office and a lot of employees resisting. And because it's been such a hot job market, employees have been able to resist.

PJ Elliott:

So how do companies make it worth it to their employees to actually come into the office? Is it strictly a financial thing or how do they make them want to come back?

Paul Davidson:

I think to the extent the balance of power is shifting, I don't think they feel like they have to make a case or give them an enticement. I mean, I think some of them probably are and maybe doing some fun things in the office. I have no doubt that's probably occurring, but I think they're just feeling they want people back in the office, and to the extent they have a little more leverage, they don't have to worry so much that if they force you to, you're going to quit, and then I got to go find somebody else in a very tight job market. Employers will have more and more ability to say, "Hey, we need you back in the office. And if you leave, fine, we'll find somebody else because they'll be more workers available."

♦

Taylor Wilson:

A US recession is all but certain in the next 12 months. That's according to new Bloomberg economic model projections out this week, that's up from a 65% chance in the model's previous estimate. Consumer prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier in August, while core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy, rose 6.3% annually according to the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index. All of that at the same time as GDP, marking the value of all goods and services produced in the US, dropped at an annual rate of 1.6% in the first three months of the year, and about a half percentage point in the second three. A separate Bloomberg survey of 42 economists predicts that the probability of a recession in the next year now stands at 60%, up from 50% a month ago.

The news comes amid financial turmoil across the pond in the UK after the British pound dropped earlier this month. And adding to concerns, according to CNBC, the head of JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the US, told a conference in London this week that a serious mix of challenges was likely to push the US and global economies into recession by the middle of next year.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week wherever you find your audio. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Putin imposes martial law in Ukraine, recession threat looms: 5 Things podcast